How Old Spice is keeping it New Spice

Like many, I was a big fan of the Old Spice adverts when they came out. Their captivating, humourous and memorable ads were original and created what you might call a phenomenon - I don't have the market data, but I think it's safe to say that there was a definite buzz around the brand and the campaign. The marketing activity that followed is a testament to this...

The first to follow the tv adverts came a viral campaign starring Isaiah Mustafa ('The Man Your Man Could Smell Like' from the TV ads).

"Today could be just like the other 364 days you log into twitter, or maybe the Old Spice man shows up", tweeted @OldSpice to get the ball rolling.

Via various social media channels, fans were encouraged to put their previously unanswerable questions to the Old Spice Guy, and hundreds of Youtube videos followed containing his Old Spice-inspired answers, from revealing his hobbies of "building environmental damns and log skiing chalets", to an offer to adopt one particular fan.

I really enjoyed these videos (along with pretty much everyone); I thought that it was a great way to engage consumers in the brand. For a product that has most likely spent recent years on the bottom shelf in Morrisons, its elevation to top of the viral video chart is a mighty transition. It certainly comprised a cheap option to maximise return on investment, if the reactions on the blogosphere are anything to go by:

• On day 1 the campaign received almost 6 million views - more views than Barack Obama's victory speech;
• The Old Spice YouTube channel became the all-time most viewed channel; 
• The Old Spice Twitter following increased 2700%;
• Facebook fan interaction was up 800%.

Sales also increased massively - a huge success for Old Spice! But hold your horses (especially your gleaming white horse Isaiah), as the brand's next move is, well, questionable. 

For me, this falls a bit flat. I feel like the script is nowhere near as strong as that which first enticed us to desire that our other half smell like a man, man. The randomness is no longer novel, it's just hard to follow what's being said and quite irritating. As Urlesque blog put it:

"Dear Old Spice guy...your performance was flawless, as usual, but the dialogue sounded like it was written by a reporter suffering from a bad migraine, or someone who just read the Wikipedia article on Dadaism for the first time. Can this ad take me something something distant cultures? Yes. No. I don't know. Is this really an advertisement, or is it just an experiment to see whether viewers even pay attention to the words coming out of your handsome face?"

It feels like we've moved away from light-hearted and whimsical to desperate. This is emphasised even more so by the recent experiential campaign of a University tour, which gave 'lucky' fans the opportunity to be photographed sitting on a white horse, just like their Old Spice idol. Is it just me who thinks this is really weak? (Although for the record I do admire the charity aspect where the tour supported Movember activity).

The popularity of the original tv ad was both a blessing and a curse for the creators, Wieden and Kennedy. How to continue to successfully market the brand, without falling victim to accusations of milking the comedy cow? Introducing a new character, as they decided to do, seems a risky business given Isaiah's huge fan base, but they played up to this fan loyalty by creating a rival character, one who was jealous of the uber-manly Isaiah. Fabio differs from Isaiah and acts in a typical bad guy fashion, but still exuberates the original alpha male qualities of the brand.

 

In addition, the battle element utilised the power of viral marketing, inciting huge numbers of web users to have their say about the new face of the brand and further perpetuate the brand in the minds of the public, with measurable results of engagement: the campaign drew more than 53,000 YouTube comments and 68,000 new Facebook fans. 

Bearing in mind that their previous successes equal an increasingly difficult challenge to keep communications 'spicy' (forgive me, it had to be done), it will be interesting to see what W&K will come up with next for Old Spice.

'You've got to watch this Youtube video!' and other marketing strategies

Have you heard? Last week Some Crazy Guy Cut Off A Parking Meter With A Saw!! A video of the act was all over Youtube within days. I bet you want to watch it don't you (if you haven't already)?

Did you enjoy that? Pretty crazy, huh?

WELL, it turns out you have been duped my friend.


The whole scenario was actually a stunt planned by Thinkmodo, a viral marketing agency who play up to our modern-day fixation with wacky videos of random people in order to cause viral sensations; in this case to promote JT's new film, 'In Time' (see how I feed into it all with this post? Paycheque in the post thanks, Thinkmodo).

To an (online) onlooker, it looked like a genuine reaction from a guy majorly miffed about getting a parking ticket.

But a week or so after the viral seeds had been sown, an extended version of the video was released, which concluded with some additional footage of a luminous countdown on the filmer's arm, followed by the movie title and web address, the rating etc. This extra footage was the first tangible reference to indicate that this whole thing was actually about a movie. 



In the movie, everyone has a stopwatch on their arm that records how much time
they have left - time is the currency, with the poorest earning just enough
to survive each day, and the rich stockpiling thousands of years of life.

In this way, it's very hard-hitting, since, like so many videos that reach 'viral sensation' status, you've got all caught up in the novelty/cuteness/wondrousness (in this case it's the inexplicability of the whole destroying-a-parking-meter-with-a-saw-thing), you've come to accept that there are actually some really, well... ANGRY people in the world who would behave like that, and you've had a laugh sharing it with your mates... Only to have this all turned upside down. And the campaign managed to hit out twice, with the first set of viewers returning to see the truth, and those who had missed it the first time round drawn in by the unconventionality of the whole fakery. It's not often a movie goes beyond your standard trailer in their advertising endeavour, so finding out that it's all staged is really effective in making the movie stand out in the minds of potential viewers - a vital result if it affects those people deciding what to see at the cinema this weekend.

Now I know that in the title of this post I promised you some 'other marketing strategies', but I feel like the viral campaign guys at Thinkmodo deserve a little bit more blog space. Check out their other activities, including: a video for client HeadBlade, which demonstrates the idea of a 'Shaving Helmet', which you wear in order to get a hands-free head shave. The results of this viral campaign saw the sales of HeadBlade shaving products increase by 31%! Another example on Thinkmodo's repertoire, a great demonstration of the agency's character, is a video that they uploaded  (using a fabricated Youtube account, just like all the others) regarding an iPhone app called 'Nude It', which supposedly lets you see through people's clothes - and was done just for the hell of it. Co-founder James Percelay claimed that this video at one point was inciting around "50 requests per day from Middle Eastern men for Nude It" ( - are you allowed to say things like that?!)  

Anyway, back to the point, which is how these campaigns perfectly emphasise the golden goal of marketing - to impact upon people's attitudes and also the hope that this impact is so great that it translates into actions that benefit the brand, as we saw in the case of HeadBlade. The organic growth and the scope for creativity of the viral campaign is without a doubt a useful tool for modern marketers, and I'm very excited to see what else surfaces in the future.  

Perhaps just remember to think twice about the credibility of the next wacky Youtube video your friend sends you - it may just be an advert in disguise...

P.S. Anyone who stuck with this ramble until the end deserves a treat.

Introduction to my blog

Me :)

Hello! And welcome to my blog. My name is Jos and this summer I left UCL with a degree in Human Sciences. I have wanted to work in marketing communications for a while now, but when I started applications to graduate schemes and attended some interviews, I came to realise that I am at a very weighty disadvantage compared to other students who are studying industry-related degrees.

Competition for graduate jobs is something that all students have to face, but I feel that by being a BSc grad in an academic subject I have faced a particular struggle to gain recognition for my interest and capability to work in marcomms.

My journey into marketing has been tempered by a stroke of luck that saw me working in a marketing role before I attended university, which has certainly made it possible for my CV to snowball somewhat. However, when applying for graduate roles, inevitably there is a lot of focus on your degree, and at times I have felt that my course has overshadowed my other more worthy and relevant credentials.

This blog will not only act as a platform for me to talk about my opinions on campaigns, so that I can demonstrate my passion for the industry, it also will document my struggles to make it in marketing with my academic degree, in today’s world of fierce competition. 

Great guerrilla campaigns

Before I start off on my rants about the difficulties of not having studied marketing(!), I wanted to show you these guerrilla campaigns that I saw on Bored Panda.  I'm a big fan of guerrilla marketing - I think it's a great way to create a buzz around your brand or campaign, and can also be a really effective means to get some press coverage that will capture your audience.

If you're not so much of a fan, or if you're not too familar with it, take a look at the below and see if it doesn't change your mind.

An archery club placed apples stickered with their website on the heads of status around town, in a perspicacious reference to William Tell's shooting of the apple off of his son's head with a bow and arrow.

 

 

Absolute radio swoop in and save onlookers from exposure to a rather unappealing image

"If you smoke, statistically your story will end 15% before it should. For help with quitting, call QUITLINE".

This extra page with a premature conclusion was slipped into books and delivers a powerful message about the lethal effects of smoking.

 

These adverts are truly inspirationational for someone like me who is just starting their career; they're examples of just how exciting marketing can be, and how passion and rigorous thinking is vital in order to deliver the client's bottom line. It's one thing to come up with a great idea that amuses:

but the campaigns that really stand out are always the ones that use their brand as inspiration for the advertising.

An extremely befitting guerrilla advert for a Yogo centre